edfan12fandomcom-20200214-history
The Vessel
''The Vessel ''is a 1998 science fiction horror-thriller film directed by Michael Anderson, released on November 27, 1998. Influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey, the film was met with polarising reception at first, but has since gotten more positive since its 2006 re-release. It was the first film to be released under Apparel Studios. Plot In 2000, a group of astronauts from Space Shuttle Falcon, led by Lex Adrian, are on a space exploration mission at the planetoid GL-1138. Two weeks later, the AI from the Shuttle (dubbed Cain) begins to malfunction and the astronauts try to After this, Gabriel terminates Cain from Falcon, only to possess Lex's body. Soon, Cain (possessing Lex) uses his blade to wound Gabriel in the chest and then tries to kill Barbara but she manages to kill him by stabbing him in the heart, destroying the AI. Gabriel and Alison then return back to Infinity ''as ''Falcon ''is then sucked into a vortex and is later destroyed in the process. A month later, Gabriel and Alison wake up from their stasis tanks as ''Infinity ''successfully lands back at the Cape Canaveral. At the quarantine, Gabriel tells Barbara he loves her. Soon, Barbara tells him that she loves him too. Soon, the two share a kiss followed by Gabriel's narration that despite successfully defeating the AI, Cain did somehow survive on an unknown location, vowing his revenge on him. Alternate ending A much darker ending was shot during reshoots of the film. In this ending, after defeating the AI, Barbara notices Gabriel's chest is bleeding and tries to revive him. However, Gabriel tells her that he's not going to make it and dies in Barbara's arms. Soon, the ''Falcon ''is destroyed as Barbara returns back to ''Infinity. After this, she gives Gabriel a space funeral as she puts his body on a capsule and sending it to the Moon, due to his wishes. Cast Anderson decided to do a colour-blind casting in order to avoid to cast people for their race over ability. In fact, he didn't add the surnames for the characters after the actors were cast and to avoid any racial stereotypes. *Dane Brooks as Gabriel Smythe: The main protagonist of the film. He is captain of the Space Shuttle Infinity ''and is on a mission to GL-1138 in order to retrieve ''Falcon. *Marcus Cohen as Arnold Stein *Alison Harper as Barbara Longfeather: The scientist of the team. Harper, who is of Navajo descent, did her hair up with a chongo in honour of her heritage for some scenes. *Andrew Peterson as Lex Adrian *Michael Anderson as the voice of Cain: The AI of Falcon ''(the eponymous vessel) and the main antagonist. Production Production began on April 12, 1997 in Apparel Studios. The Space Shuttle ''Infinity ''has artificial gravity. The decision to have an ice cream soda machine in the space craft was that Adrenaline Sodas had plans to launch a float soda. Due to the cult success of the film, the Adrenaline Float brand became a permanent addition and has remained so as of 2015. GL-1138 is a nod to George Lucas and his first film ''THX 1138, while the code "GR-1966" is a nod to Gene Roddenberry and 1966, the year Star Trek debuted on television. Release Sequels and TV series The film's story continued in the 2000 film Vessel II: The Sentinel along with Vessel III: Underworld ''in 2002 and ''Vessel IV: Endgame ''in 2004. All three sequels recieved positive reception though despite being involved in the sequels as writer and producer, Anderson only directed ''Vessel II: The Sentinel, leaving his close friend Iain Michaels to direct III ''and ''IV.